Episode 2 Get Up and Grow

Fabulous flowers, luscious lawns, verdant veggie plots and back yards.

What does your garden say about you?

If it's crying out for an overhaul or you simply need help to get started, then we're here to inspire you.

We're happy.

Is that a good shot for you?

I'm Chris Beardshaw, passionate horticulturist, landscape architect and mad-keen cyclist.

I propagated my first seeds when I was four and haven't looked back since.

-HE SNEEZES Excuse me.

-Is that broad appreciation?

And I'm Colin Donaldson, builder, landscape gardener, and mad-keen biker.

For me, it's been about the property and the landscape working together,

and if there's heavy machinery involved, then all the better.

Are you trying to get a tune out of that?

Bah!

We're on a mission to help six families transform their gardens.

So let's Get Up And Grow.

Claire Moore and dad Robert are getting a taste for gardening.

I just feel that now it's a nice time actually to go and put my mark on the place.

-I've watched far too many gardening programmes.

-Way too many.

Robert's three daughters have now grown up and flown the nest

and the girls want to help change the area from being their childhood playground to being Robert's garden.

When we first visited Robert, we concentrated on working out the design elements.

It was something of a design masterclass.

Cutting out shapes of borders with mowers and then you did your arty-farty, thing, didn't you?

You're full of compliments, aren't you?

Well, let's see what Robert thinks.

It has been a few weeks since we laid out the provisional garden.

We're interested to know how you got on with it.

How did it feel to walk around the spaces that were marked out?

The benefits, you know, less lawn to cut.

-I never thought I'd hear you say that. Less lawn to cut?

-Yes.

Nicer beds to look at.

In fact, beds to look at.

Whereas before we had pots, an odd pot here and there.

Having somebody else coming in and carving the space up

and presenting that finished article, this is one space and that's the next

and this is how they're linked together,

has suddenly opened his eyes.

Now it seems to be a process of Robert playing catch-up.

He seems to be achieving what he always wanted to achieve,

which is a garden that tells a story.

And the story to begin with is to properly measure and mark out those borders.

The cat is sitting there. You've drawn round the cat's tail.

Not sure if the cat approves of your design, Chris.

Never mind the cat, go and make sure Robert approves before we start.

Tell us if we're annoying you. If you're sceptical, you've got to say.

This really is a big step for Robert.

He's obsessive about his ever-so-tidy lawn.

I know, but as I always say, you have to crack a few eggs to make the best omelette.

Why don't you distract Robert and Claire?

I think you've some work to do before you get the daiquiris down.

So, for instance, if what you want is an enclosed and romantic space,

then you might want to select plants in pastel palettes, you know, that sort of style.

A couple of gardens that we visited recently had

a fair smattering of topiary in it and that was very appealing.

Immediately you've given us the idea that the structure

is really created out of a formal series of plants. The topiary, for instance.

So that gives you the punctuation through the garden, that rhythm.

But how about something that's a little bit more informal?

How about this style of planting? How do you feel about that?

I know you're looking at it going, "No, it's not...

"Everything isn't as so and in its place and that kind of thing."

Think of the way the light hits that, you've got colour as well, plus the grass.

It gives you the movement that you're looking for as well.

-Not as an overall plan.

-OK.

I think for many people, Robert has a slightly scary relationship with formality

and the need for things to be absolutely precise.

He's a very serious man at times.

It's so unstructured, you don't need a gardener to be able to assemble it.

-That puts fear in him. It's unstructured.

-Exactly.

'Having Claire I think is quite interesting

'because it does open up the opportunity for somebody who is living very close to Robert,'

who knows him very well, certainly much better than us, to nag him and to get him to loosen up.

I'm beginning to realise my daughter knows me so well.

So what's the plan?

That's our line.

That's the centre.

We end up with the arc like that.

And the steps are parallel like that.

That looks the most complicated to set out,

but it means you don't need any retainers at all at this front edge.

Let's get this built up anyway.

So grass steps, have you mentioned this to Robert?

I told you I was in your capable hands.

Maybe I should be worried about that.

I was going to say, "That's what worries me."

We're just talking about how to resolve this end of the garden.

-Yes.

-And quite what we've come up with.

One of the things which is kind of interfering with the design a little bit is the zip wire.

-How desperate is that to stay?

-100%.

'The zip line will always be here to stay.'

I don't have any great time left

to fight with three adult daughters now.

When you buy her a birthday present next time,

will you buy her a Scrabble board?

Something that's disposable.

OK, er...

Well...I mean, I don't know how to do that actually.

It will just have to be short plants.

I agree with the zip line. I think it's great.

Thanks for your support(!)

All right. We'll keep the zip line. I thought it was a good idea.

-OK, done deal.

-I always said the zip line should stay. That's one problem.

The other is how we deal with this change in level.

At the moment, it's just falling away all over the place.

What we're playing with is putting grass steps in.

So that you get up and you can sit on the top of the grass steps.

-Grass steps?

-Yes.

Don't think of them like steps in your house.

They're at an angle.

Is this going to help my argument? Because if it's not...

How come you just introduce these things when we're on camera?

-Tactics?

-No, it's largely because we've only just thought about it.

It's a very organic process, this.

I'm thinking, "That's easy to say, but not quite so easy to do."

Just trust me. It's going to be worth it.

Push that down as low as you can and that will bring that end up.

Grade out from there.

Trim off that edge.

And trim off the pegs at the top.

It's about precision engineering which is why

getting those levels and those stakes in exactly the right position is essential.

Precision, dear Chris, is my middle name.

It's wrong.

It still has to go flat.

I'll just bang another peg in.

Ah, dear. HE LAUGHS

The steps are a very subtle part of the garden,

but as with all subtlety, it comes at a price.

The price is that you have to be very exact in how you put them together.

We use a laser level, which sets the level of the ground and it's accurate to within a fraction of a millimetre.

I feel that we're in this for the long haul.

Probably by this time next year, it will be in much, much better shape.

I think it's time for an injection of inspiration for Robert, Claire and little sister Helen.

I have the very place in mind. Not far away from Robert's,

is the stunning Mount Stewart House and gardens where the mild climate of Strangford Lough

allows some exceptional planting.

Robert, we've brought you here to the magnificent Mount Stewart

because it's a melting pot of every type of style.

I think we've discovered over the last few months,

it's quite good to chuck you in at the deep end, like this,

and give you it all and then we get a rating of how to shape it.

Mount Stewart is a fantastic place.

It's really got everything.

It's one of the most formal gardens in the country and yet,

as we saw, it's a whole mix of everything in that formality.

It's important to remember that no plant decides to be formal.

It's the way we use them.

You know, these beds over here, look.

The planting inside is a mix of herbaceous and shrubs and they are very loosely arranged.

Yet the formality is created by those very tightly-clipped hedges.

Take the hedges away and suddenly it becomes a big, floppy, cottage garden.

It's a perfect mix of what Dad and I are looking for.

-He's everything in its set place and mine is slightly sprawling and informal.

-Yeah.

Maybe we will agree on something.

Maybe.

We're not saying that this is what Robert's garden will look like,

but there are so many take-out themes here, enough for both Robert and Claire.

If you thought that piece was formal, have a look at this piece

because this little pocket garden is,

in a way, getting more and more powerful.

This is about as formal as you're likely to get.

It is absolute control freak in here.

This is where every weed, every blemish, every imperfection shouts out at you

and you have to do something about it.

So what you have to decide is, is this the level of formality

that you would feel comfortable with all the time in the garden?

I can tell by the look on Claire's face that at least one end of the family aren't convinced about it.

I just think on that grand scale... It is a family garden.

This is a show garden and although it is Mount Stewart and it is fantastic,

I think you need to remember the grand scale of it and then that this is actually our home.

We still have to live in ours.

If this was your entire garden, it would probably be overpowering,

but as a part of a larger garden, it can be a real cameo piece.

So you go from absolute formality into absolute informality,

and it's that transition which creates the power.

I think that's what we can start to achieve.

A little bit of this and then quite a lot of that.

-Compromise in our house has always been very positive.

-WOMEN LAUGH

It's important when you've got two people

who are involved in formulating a garden, in Claire and Robert,

they've got very different opinions of how the garden should feel and how it should be shaped.

So taking them to a garden where they can literally have their battle in public

is exciting because you never quite know who's going to come to the fore.

Actually, I think they've both moved in each other's directions.

Claire has become much more liberal in terms of accepting the need for formality,

but Robert is starting to move and accept that you need the informality

and you also need the contradiction between the formality and the informality.

So I think it brought them together, rather than driving them apart.

This gives you some sense of the equipment that's required to maintain...

if you go down the heavy topiary route.

There's the Guinness harp.

A classic view.

Topiary is any plant which has been clipped into a shape or a form

and we usually refer to evergreen topiary, so box and yew,

but it's a great way of injecting some structure, some solidity, into the garden.

Look how crisp that junction is there.

It's as if you've got a set square around it.

If you are of that mind, then there is actually great enjoyment to be found

in the sculpting and the maintaining of objects like this.

With 20 or 30 years to go, would I have time to do a harp?

Oh, definitely. You can have the harp and the orchestra behind and the amphitheatre.

Just not today!

A few weeks later, I'm back at Robert's in the rain.

The shapes of the grass steps and also the many borders around the garden are now clear and defined.

Job done.

Gloves are for girls.

You can decide how wide you want the path up here now.

-Not narrow.

-We weren't talking to you.

-I'm just eavesdropping.

-You want it wide?

Yeah. I love the steps.

I absolutely love them.

This is where you can do your next conference or speech

and we'll charge everybody a fiver.

Do I stand on the stage there and the disciples sit here?

Friends, Romans, countrymen.

The world of gardening according to Beardshaw.

What kind of seat are we going to have?

A throne would probably be appropriate, wouldn't it?

Here's a puzzle. It's raining, Colin nowhere in sight.

Hey, urgent business and 35 degrees.

Were you just dropping things in my coffee?

The cameraman said it was art.

Do you guys want another umbrella?

You're not at the festival now, you know.

-This is what wellies are for.

-The worst thing you can do to a garden is that.

Robert is as precise about his barbie as he is about his lawn.

Barbecuing and gardening in my dad's eyes...

Yeah, I would say they're very similar. They're both very precise.

Only men can master them.

Guys, lunch time.

-Is it worth me taking my boots off or shall I be fed from here?

-We'll put it on the steps.

Throw the food at me from where you are.

Now, that is wet.

The food looks great, though. I'm almost jealous.

He's a master barbie man. No time to savour it, though.

With a man down, I've got some turf to tend.

You can tell straightaway whether it's cultivated turf

because it comes on a really dense mat.

It doesn't fall to pieces. You can see the dense roots in there.

It's also an even grade as well. That's a good colour.

I think these are the samples.

There you go. It's a bit like choosing carpet.

I was going to say did you ever sell carpet in your days part-time?

I should have done. You can see the difference between them.

-There are three grades here.

-Yes.

This one with a very long blade. That's a rye grass mix.

If you were doing a very hard-wearing turf, rugby pitch, football pitch, that sort of thing,

the only thing with rye grass is it doesn't like being cut close and it doesn't do well in shade at all.

This is the opposite end of the spectrum. This is a bent.

Very, very fine. Bowling green quality.

Takes very close scalping.

Really doesn't like shade.

And the one that we've got is more of a fescue mix,

which is good at being scalped and very good for shade. That's the one to go for. That's good stuff.

Turf is a much better option if you can afford it

and if you've got the time to lay it, it's much better than seed.

It gives you an instant solution. It's a very resilient solution.

Yes, it's four or five times the price, perhaps more depending on the quality of turf that you're buying,

but especially under trees or in highly-trafficked areas, go for turf every time.

It's worth the investment.

Under normal circumstances, you'd be getting a nice fine tilth and then a nice dousing of water.

-On top of it?

-Yeah, just to moisten it

to give the roots something to key into.

But I think we should be all right today.

But it looks like the sun finally did come out and the two masters of precision get to work.

What we need is...

every other roll cut diagonally.

I've gone corner to corner with the straight edge and that will give us the segments,

a bit like segments of an orange. It will allow us to come round on a splay.

It's not very often that you get a chance to lay turf with the like of Chris, yeah.

Master turf layer.

The best bread knife out of the kitchen drawer is always the best option.

Just don't tell Sandra.

When you're trying to get them to join,

move one across so this one is laid. This is the movable one.

Move that one across and push them down together.

If you can, lay it out so the joints are bonded just like bricks,

so they're staggered, you don't get any joints running straight through.

If you pat it in and make sure it's tucked into the corners here.

It's the corner between the tread and the rise that's important.

Look what you have started. Robert will be tending that lawn with tweezers and a magnifying glass.

Isn't that how everyone tends it?

Look at it, though - great quality.

Steps.

It's a concept that I have seen in some books and magazines in the past

and now it's in my garden. Wow.

Whatever part of the brain that I haven't been using in the past

that I'm now using because of this design factor that's coming through, I'm really enjoying it.

In fact, I think what I'm really looking forward to is

not so much the next couple of months, but the next lot of years.

Time for a recap, Chris.

Robert's garden used to be a place for his girls to play and now it's all grown up.

It's now all about the design and it's been an interesting mix

of Claire and Robert, the wildly informal and the precision formality.

Maybe.

And it was a stroke of genius to give Robert the grass steps so he has his precision lawn back.

And wouldn't you just credit it?

The sun comes out and who comes mincing into the garden?

I think one of the nice things at this point

is starting to see that structure coming out of the ground

and the trees are amongst the first to go in.

It's amazing, isn't it, what effect even small and delicate trees will have on the garden?

It's like a kind of pop-up book.

That's exactly what happens at this stage. Everything starts to come.

So a range of trees that will give you that lift, starting off with one of the ornamental apples.

This is malus evereste. You can see the apple forming there.

Then talking about spring flowers and fruits, two different sorts of mountain ash,

which is a classic tree to have in a garden like this.

Really hard-working, don't mind really awful conditions and also exposure. So good trees to have.

This is a lovely leaf formation.

And then, we've got over there, talking about good spring flowering,

this one is a pear.

This is pyrus chanticleer

and chanticleer doesn't really produce fruits that you would write home about,

but it does produce flowers and it's one of the earliest of the flowering trees.

Then we've got, also with spring blossom,

this one, which is one of the little Japanese cherries.

This one is called snow goose and they're just great, aren't they?

If you had to choose one tree in a garden, it's got to be a Japanese cherry.

What a lovely name. Snow goose.

Do you know that the petals, when they fall on the ground,

it looks like goose down, which is why it gets its name? It is a fab tree to have.

'It's good to see the trees going in.

'The trees are chosen for their seasonality, so they're delivering something at different seasons.

'There's always a tree that's in life.'

And the placement will be right back to those key locations,

either on the centre line of a view or framing a view.

You take one. I'll put the other up here.

I think it's a ginkgo biloba.

-Brilliant.

-Thank you.

A prehistoric tree.

Not this particular specimen, but as a plant...

-Pretty much unchanged.

-It's dinosaur age, really.

I mean, this is in fossil records.

-You've got a male here.

-You're very lucky to have a female.

The question you have to ask is how do you sex a ginkgo biloba?

Very carefully.

The female, of course, carries the fruits and the fruits are an interesting taste and smell.

They smell like a bag of socks, old socks.

'You worry me sometimes!'

I think that needs to go on the top lawn.

Day one, when you all arrived, I thought I had a lovely garden.

After four hours with Chris and Colin, I realised that I had a well-cut lawn.

Things are progressing since that.

This is a real design masterclass. We're not digging and forming, building.

We're gently tickling the garden along and we've got to a point now with this garden

that it's really turned and we're just having to put the finishing touches to it now with the planting.

Like most gardens, as soon as you start to dissect the site,

you can work out what plant materials will be appropriate.

One side of your garden, near the house, is predominantly in the sun.

The opposite side under the trees is predominantly in the shade.

You can see things like hypericums, pachysandras, the euphorbias,

those types of things are all going to revel in the shade.

These however, are all the sun-loving plants.

These are the ones that like to smother themselves in oil and bask in the sunshine.

These need a lot more light.

'Robert's garden is easy to break down because once you realise'

that part of the garden is in the sun and part of the garden is in the shade,

that dictates the plants in those zones.

Good to see the whole family getting involved.

THEY LAUGH I was going to put this one with your front one.

Is this chess? Are we playing chess here?

What we want to do, Robert, is from where you sit in the dining room,

we want to make sure we've got the implied avenue.

What we want to do is try and work out the distance between the yews.

There will be three on each side. The distance between them gives you that sense of focus.

-Can you manage that?

-Yeah, if you give me...

-I'll race you!

-You get a head start. What was that?

So what you want to do is to make sure they look about equidistant

from up there, which, of course, the perspective of sight will concertina them a little bit.

You just need to make sure it's pleasing on the eye.

Chris, yours are all OK.

There's a problem over here.

I've been saying that all series.

Does that correct it?

There's something else we have to work around with these two.

-The zip line.

-These two are right in the zip line.

What we need is a crash test dummy to come down. Claire? Where is she?

She's just dropping in.

This is going to be quite close, don't you think, from down there?

-That was all right, as long as you get the bend right.

-You need to practise that hip movement.

We've got her sliding through two yew trees.

We'd better be good with the secateurs because there could be a painful ending.

-There won't be a pot there.

-This is like skittles.

Pots are going off like that.

Placing and planting furnishes and finishes the garden and Chris has even given Robert his topiary.

You want a pyramid.

The easiest thing to do is just create a simple bamboo frame

and you use the frame as a guide.

So you just give it a bit of a trim like that.

Just cut it to the frame all the way around. There you go. All yours.

Gently up those grass steps to place some more finishing touches.

As autumn creeps in, the young garden takes shape and relaxes.

The joy of actually coming from the original plan through to fruition has been a great journey.

I can't remember the garden now without the steps up at the top.

The fact that it's just changed so dramatically...

Obviously I can remember this lawn that was someone's pride and joy,

but the fact that it's a proper garden now...

You're a proper gardener.

That's going a bit far.

This is quite magical actually, yes.

The end result is better than we ever would have anticipated.

Yeah, big time. We've seen it on plan. We've heard so many people talk about it.

Today it's just completely taken form and shape.

Start cutting into a lawn as we have here,

and there's a perception that you'll reduce the scale of the space.

Actually the opposite is true.

In this garden, there's a big house and a big lawn, so you need big borders.

Stick those three things together and suddenly the garden appears enormous, a real adventure.

A story unfolds as you walk around.

The jewel in the crown has been the topiary.

It's Dad's new lawn.

You're trying to train the eye to look into a certain space and not deviate from that.

So we've got a mix, as we looked at in Mount Stewart, of very formal and then the wild herbaceous-ness.

Day one, I didn't have a clue.

Now I have Chapter One over

and I'm happy that I have a fair idea where Chapter Two, Three, Four and Five are going.

You've inspired people.

-Again, I think...

-That's a bit too far.

We're absolutely delighted as a family.

And we've had a great time doing it.

We've been very fortunate with the good guidance and direction of Colin and Chris.

When?

Chris, maybe. Colin...ennugh!

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